The Double Heartbeat
by foxface15
Summary: The Doctor and Rose are led to modern day London where they will discover that things are not always as they were thought to be. How will things change for the Doctor? And how does it involve a sixteen year old girl? Just a short story inspired by a dream.
1. Chapter 1

The TARDIS jolted to a stop, and Rose and I opened the door to find a quiet suburban street.

"Where are we?" Rose asked.

"I don't know." I replied, spotting a newspaper stand. "Let's find out, shall we?"

I walked over to the stand and grabbed a paper. I gazed at the front page, hearing Rose's footsteps behind me.

"We're in 2013."I told Rose, who was looking around the street. "March, and in London, to be exact."

"Why did we come here?" Rose asked.

"I don't know." I replied. "I didn't put any set information into the TARDIS." I explained. "I think she just brought us here. I wonder why." I looked off down the street; deep in thought.

Suddenly a door opened a couple of houses down and a woman ran out.

"Help! Please help me!" She yelled. "Please, someone call a doctor!"

Immediately I took off running towards the house, and I glanced back to see that Rose was running after me, a concerned look on her face.

The woman looked up at me with worried eyes as I reached her. "Yes, I'm a doctor, what's happened?" I asked.

"Oh it's terrible! Please come inside doctor, and see for yourself." She said, turning and rushing back through the door, and Rose and I quickly followed her.

The woman led us to an upstairs bedroom, where a girl was sitting on the edge of her bad, a blank stare on her face.

I got down in front of the girl and tried to figure out what was wrong with her, but I couldn't see anything out of place. She looked normal. She was wearing a tank top and a pair of jeans; the look of any typical teenager.

"What's wrong with her?" I asked, turning towards the woman.

"I don't know." She said, on the brink of crying, and Rose walked over to her, wrapping her arm around her shoulder and easing her into a rocking chair in the corner of the room. "She's been doing this for two weeks now, almost every day." She said in between sobs. "Just sitting, or standing, or whatever position she's in when she stops. And then she just looks at nothing!" The woman sobbed more, and Rose rubbed her shoulder in consolation.

"I just couldn't take it anymore." The woman said, starting to calm down. "Her father was at work today and it was just us; I just had to get her help, doctor. Please. She's only sixteen, doctor."

"It's quite alright now." I said, walking over to the woman and taking her hands in mine. "I'll try my best to see what's going on."

She smiled solemnly at me. "Thank you, doctor."

I returned her smile, and then became serious again. "What's her name?" I asked.

"Bethany. Bethany Frankel." She replied. "I'm her mother."

"Thank you." I said, and then went again to Bethany's side.

"Bethany? Bethany, can you hear me?" I asked, taking her face in my hands.

_Yes. _I heard, but her mouth didn't open. I looked at her, but it didn't seem like the voice was coming from her.

I turned around, and was shocked to see Bethany standing beside me. She was looking down at me, shock in her eyes. I turned back, and the unconscious Bethany was still there.

"Rose?" I asked, turning back to look at the Bethany who was standing beside me. "Do you see anything?"

"No." Rose replied, curiosity in her tone. "I don't see anything."

"Strange. Only I can see you." I said, standing up.

"What?" Her mother asked. "She's here?" She looked around frantically.

"Yes." I said. "But only I can see her. I wonder why?" I replied.

_Who are you?_ She asked, and fear frightened her tone, though I doubted that I caused it.

"I'm the Doctor." I said, looking at her. "I'm here to help."

As I gazed into Bethany's face, sudden recognition hit me. Her mother said that she had been going through these spells for two weeks now, and only now I realized that I had seen her before. Anywhere that Rose and I had gone during the previous two weeks, a strange girl had always been there, on the edge of my vision and my consciousness.

It was Bethany. She was following us.

But that didn't explain why I could see her and Rose couldn't. No, not us. Me. She was following me.

"But why?" I asked aloud. "Why are you following me?"

"I don't know." Bethany replied. "I can't control where I go. I just end up places."

"But there's got to be a reason." I said. "Can you think of anything that would tie you to me?" I asked Bethany, who was starting to look a little fuzzy around the edges. "What's going on?" I asked.

"I'm coming back." She simply stated, and then her entire form dissolved. I spun around, trying to find her, but she had disappeared.

Her mother gasped, and pointed to the Bethany on the bed. "She's waking up!" She said, and then stood and rushed over to Bethany's side.

Bethany had begun to stir, and her mother gently laid her back on the bed. Rose went around to the headboard and I sat down beside Bethany's head.

She stirred a little more, and then her eyes blinked open.

"Oh dear." Her mother sighed, and then wrapped her in a hug. Bethany looked shocked. "Are you okay?" Her mother asked, and she sat back to look at her. Her hands patted Bethany's arms and face to see if she was hurt.

"Yeah, mum. I'm okay." Bethany replied, smiling shyly at her mother. Then she looked at me. "What's wrong with me?" She asked, her eyes terrified.

"I don't know." I said honestly. "There is one way to find out, though."

"Then please do it, doctor." Bethany's mother said, taking Bethany's hands in her own. "Please fix my daughter."

"May we please be alone, Mrs. Frankel? Rose?" I asked. After a moment, Mrs. Frankel rose from the bed, still holding Bethany's hand.

"I suppose." She said, patting Bethany's hand softly before letting it go. "Come along now, dear." She said, addressing Rose. "I'll make us some tea."

Rose smiled softly at me, and then followed Mrs. Frankel out of the room, leaving Bethany and I alone.

"What are you going to do?" She asked, her eyes studying the carpet below her feet. I turned towards her.

"I'm going to figure out why you have a connection with me." I explained. "When you go into that state, another you comes to wherever I am. I still don't know why, but if I can find a connection, then I might be able to see why you leave in the first place."

"How will you do that?" She looked up at me, her eyes wide and contemplating.

"If you'll let me, I can see inside your mind." I said.

Her head tilted to the side out of curiosity. "My mind?"

"Yes." I whispered. I raised my hands to the side of her face. "May I?"

After a moment, she nodded, and I placed my hands against her skin and let myself into her mind. "If there's anything you don't want me to see, just imagine it as a door and close it." I said.

"Okay." She said, her eyes closed.

"You're a smart little thing, aren't you?" I said to myself as I wandered through her thoughts. "You analyze everything. It's incredible." I opened my eyes, Bethany's inner thoughts and ways of processing things momentarily hindering me.

I took my hands off of her face. "Wow. Your mind is like a little machine, isn't it?" I asked, and Bethany looked up at me, a shy smile on her face. "You just keep working, and keep thinking." I said. "You never stop." I say, placing my hand on her chest, feeling her heartbeat, the power source that kept her going. "You never stop." I whispered again.

But then I stopped. My hand was still on her chest. There wasn't any way. I had to be only imagining it.

"What's wrong?" Bethany asked.

"Lay down." I said, and she obeyed, looking at me with cautious eyes.

"It's not possible." I said as I pulled my sonic screwdriver from my pocket.

I placed my screwdriver over her heart and waited.

"What's wrong?" She asked again. "What's wrong with me?"

My screwdriver beeped with results and I jumped back. "No." I said, looking at it. It had to be wrong.

"What is it?!" Bethany yelled at me, sitting up in bed. I looked at her.

"You have two hearts." I said in amazement. "You're a Time Lord."


	2. Chapter 2

"A what?" She asked me.

"You're like me." I said. "An alien."

"But I've lived here my entire life." She said. "It's impossible."

"No more impossible than you." I said. "You shouldn't exist. I'm the last of the Time Lords. Or at least, I thought I was."

"But I do." Bethany replied. "How?"

I looked at her, wondering if there were any possibilities that she survived the war. "May I look into your mind again?" I asked.

She quickly nodded, wanting to figure out her past as much as I did.

Again I sat down next to her and placed my hands on the sides of her head. This time, instead of getting distracted by Bethany's thought patterns that made now made sense, I dove deeper; into her memories.

I saw a baby, who was being carried by a woman, and a man was running beside her. They were surrounded by fire. They ran out of a building just as it collapsed, and across what appeared to be a backyard.

"Is that me?" Bethany asked quietly.

"I think so." I responded, keeping my focus on her memories.

The couple ran into a smaller building that wasn't on fire, but anyone could see that it wouldn't be safe for long. In the building, a spaceship sat, where it appeared ready to launch at any moment.

"That's a TARDIS." I said to Bethany, who didn't respond.

The couple climbed inside and placed the baby, who was crying now, into a small seat. After they buckled it in, the mother whispered lullabies to the baby to calm it down, and the father scrambled around the console typing in coordinates and such.

The father eventually came back over to where the mother and baby were at. He wrapped his arm around the woman, and then they both kissed the baby. The mother began to cry as the father ran to the console and pressed a button, and then grabbed the woman and pulled her out of the ship.

The baby began to cry again.

I removed my hands from the sides of Bethany's head; I knew that we had both seen enough.

Bethany was looking down at her hands, which were folded in her lap, and I saw that a tear fell down her cheek.

"Are you alright?" I asked, looking at her. "I know it's a lot to take in."

"Sure," She said, wiping the tear off of her face and looking up at me. "Besides the fact that I've lived not knowing what I am, and that I'm an alien. What kind, exactly, did you say I am?" She asked, her voice shaken.

"Gallifreyan." I replied. "A Time Lord. I'm one too."

"So my real parents sent me here?" Bethany asked.

"Yes, but I wonder why." I said, standing up. Bethany's eyes followed me. "Why _here_? Your father punched coordinates into the TARDIS, so they must've known where you would end up at."

"They did their research?" Bethany asked.

"Yes." I responded, and then a thought occurred to me. I looked up at Bethany. "Where's your TARDIS?" I asked.

"I don't know." She responded. "But, mum might. If I came here, _specifically here_, as a baby," She said, deep in thought. "Then my parents had to find me here. That means they had to find the ship." She looked down. "They hid it from me this entire time."

"Maybe it was for the best." I said. "How could they possibly explain it to you when they didn't know what was going on themselves?"

I stood up and was about to walk out into the hall when Bethany said something.

"At least we found the link between us." Bethany said. "I was subconsciously searching. Part of me knew that I didn't belong, and I was looking for anything that was really home." I turned around to face her. "And judging by the war inside my head, you're all that's left."

"You were astrally projecting yourself." I replied. "You released your mind to search across time and space to try to find me." I sighed, looking down and thinking that we were all that was left of our race. "And you finally have."

I walked forward to hug her, and she eagerly returned it. I knew that she was taking it hard, and that was to be expected of someone who was just told that they were an alien.

I released her and she looked up at me, wetness in her eyes again. I smiled down at her. "Let's go find your ship."


	3. Chapter 3

We walked downstairs and found Mrs. Frankel and Rose sitting around a small table where a few saucers were sitting, full of tea.

When we walked it, Mrs. Frankel stood up.

"She shouldn't be having those blank spells anymore." I said, and Mrs. Frankel sighed in relief.

"Oh thank you doctor." She said.

I sighed, and then gestured for everyone to sit down. I turned to address Mrs. Frankel.

"In the process of helping your daughter," I said. "A few… questions, were aroused."

Her face turned to confusion. "What do you mean?" She asked.

"I uncovered some details about her past, Mrs. Frankel." I replied. "You see, Bethany is like me."

Rose gasped, and then looked back and forth between me and Bethany. "Really?" She asked in amazement.

"Yes." I said, smiling a little.

"What?" She asked in shock. "Like you? What are you then?"

I turned back towards her. "I'm not from here. Not from Earth." I said, and then continued before she could say anything. "And neither is Bethany. And you know that. You rescued her the night that she came here, as a baby."

Mrs. Frankel looked down at her lap. "How do you know all of this?" She asked, a question on her face.

"I just do. Please accept that." I said, and Mrs. Frankel sighed, but then nodded. "Now," I said, leaning forward, "Bethany landed in a ship. Do you know where it is?"

Mrs. Frankel looked up and met my eyes. "I don't know. The night after we rescued her it disappeared."

I pinched the bridge between my nose. "Was there anything there that wasn't there before?" I asked. "Anything in its place?"

Instead of looking at me when she answered, Mrs. Frankel turned to Bethany. "Your playhouse." She said.

Bethany looked up in shock. "It's bigger on the inside."

"That's it!" I yelled, and both Bethany and I jumped up and ran for the back of the house.

We ran out the back door, Bethany leading the way. We ran across to a small shed on the opposite side of the lawn, and Bethany threw open the doors, revealing a small playhouse inside.

"Well it's just tiny!" I said as I walked forward to inspect it. It was just a small child's playhouse, just tall enough for a child to stand in.

I found the door and knelt down beside it, inspecting it with my screwdriver.

"I always told my friends that it was bigger on the inside, but they didn't believe me." Bethany said, kneeling down beside me. "So eventually I gave up trying."

I heard Rose and Mrs. Frankel come up behind us, and I turned to face them. "So it just appeared one day?" I asked Mrs. Frankel.

"Yes, the day after we rescued Bethany we found it sitting outside, and whatever that thing was that we got Bethany out of was gone." She explained.

"Hmm…" I turned back towards the playhouse. I looked at it for a while, before Bethany finally spoke.

"Go ahead," She said, and I turned to look at her. She was looking at the playhouse with a smile on her face. "Open it."

I leaned forward to touch the door, and it clicked softly under my touch. The door swung open, and I laughed.

Inside it was very open and easily recognizable as a TARDIS judging by the control panel. I crawled inside.

"We'll have to fix this." I said, referring to the smallness of the door.

Once inside, I stood up and walked over to an unnaturally quiet control panel. I tilted my head to the side in curiosity. "She must have not been used since you came in her." I said to Bethany as she walked up behind me.

"I suppose." She said, looking around.

"What did you think that it was as a kid?" I asked, guessing that she was truly looking at everything for the first time.

"Magic." She said, turning to look at me.

"It looks different from your TARDIS, Doctor." Rose said, crawling through the door. Bethany's mother was right behind her and was openly gaping at the sight before her.

"Yes," I replied, gazing around the room. "It's a different model than mine." I turned around to look at Rose, who was giving me a curious expression. I shrugged. "Well it's not like mine was the only kind they made," I explained as I propped my elbows up on the control panel. I leaned my face against my fists. "Everyone has to upgrade, you know, adapt and get better." I finished.

I looked down, then, and saw a small silver box sitting, partially hidden, under the gratings over the floor. I jumped down to see what it was, but a conversation continued behind me.

"So this is what I came here in?" Bethany asked.

"Yep," I said, lifting the grate off of the floor and jumping down to the lower level.

"You found me here?" Bethany asked quieter, and I knew that she was addressing her mother.

"Yes, dear." Mrs. Frankel replied, and I could hear the sadness in her voice. I moved a few wires out of the way to get to the box.

"I'm so sorry we didn't tell you." Mrs. Frankel continued. "We didn't know how to."

"It's okay mum." Bethany said as I pulled the box out and snapped the top open.

I gazed down at what lied inside. "Bethany, come here." I said, and I heard footsteps stop behind me.

"Yes?" She asked, and I turned to hand her the box. She lifted it cautiously and looked at the folded paper that was on the top. Her eyes flickered up to me.

She sat the box down on the floor and sat cross-legged in front of it. She pulled the paper out and unfolded it slowly. I stood up so that I was still in the bottom part of the TARDIS, but I was eye-level with Bethany.

As Bethany read what was on the letter her hand went up to her mouth and she started to cry. I realized that it was a letter from her parents.

Her real parents.


	4. Chapter 4

"What did it say?" I asked quietly.

Bethany struggled to stop crying, and Mrs. Frankel walked to her and stroked the back of her head with her hand.

Bethany looked down at her lap, and a tear dripped onto the paper and stained it. "It said –"Bethany sobbed "—it said that they loved me and that they wanted me to grow up," She sobbed again "Not knowing what had happened." She looked up at me, tears flowing down her cheeks.

"They were protecting you," I said, jumping up to sit on the edge of the grating. "They didn't want you to remember all that you'd lost. You remember how you said they must've done their research?" I asked, and she nodded her head. "They sent you here," I explained, pointing to her mother, "_Specifically here_, because they knew that you would have a nice, safe life."

Bethany looked up at me, calmed down a bit. "We're the only ones left, aren't we?" She asked.

I had to look down. "Yeah," I replied, "We are."

We stayed silent for a minute before I noticed that Bethany was still holding the box. I wondered if there was anything else inside.

I reached out for the box, and Bethany looked up at me. "May I?" I asked, and she nodded, handing me the box.

Inside it looked like there were owner's manuals for the TARDIS, a key for the door, and... a sonic screwdriver at the bottom. I pulled it out and examined it; it didn't look like mine, that was for sure. It looked more refined, curved and smaller than mine.

"What's that?" Rose asked from behind Mrs. Frankel, and everyone looked to see what I was holding.

"It's a sonic screwdriver." I answered, and I was met with two pairs of confused eyes, and a look awe from Rose.

"It's mine?" Bethany asked, and I handed it to her. She flipped it over, looking at it. "What does it do?" She asked.

"Ummm… "I mumbled, scratching my head. "It opens doors, and things." I responded.

"Oh, nice description." Bethany responded, wiping the remaining tears from her face. She seemed to perk up a little.

Bethany placed the screwdriver back in the box and picked up the key that unlocked the door to her TARDIS. "A key?" She asked.

"To the door," I nodded towards the tiny door. "We do need to fix that, don't we?" I asked, jumping up and pulling Bethany up after me. I walked over to the control panel and turned towards Bethany. "Now, think." I said. "What would you want to camouflage your TARDIS as?" I asked. "You can change it later, but think of something for right now that has a door that we don't have to crawl through."

"Uhhh…," Bethany mumbled. "I don't know. What does yours look like?" She asked me.

I cocked my head to the side. "It's a blue police box. My chameleon circuit got stuck way back when and I can't change it anymore, but I actually kind of prefer it now."

"A blue police box?" Bethany asked, amused. "You don't see those around much anymore."

"Makes it unique." I said, smiling.

Bethany looked past me, deep in thought. Suddenly she jumped. "Oh! I got it!" She exclaimed. I figured she had thought of a disguise for her TARDIS. "You know those red telephone booths?" She asked, and I nodded. "People don't really use them anymore, since cell phones became common. So no one would try to break in." She explained.

"I like how you think." I said, smiling at her again. This time she returned the smile. I turned to the control panel and blew away some dust that had collected there over the years. Bethany's TARDIS was old and unused, but it would still work if we did it just right.

"Okay," I said to Bethany, who was still looking at me. "I'm going to teach you how to fly this thing, but first we need to re-camouflage it." I explained. "Do you see that lever over there?" I said, pointing to a small lever. Bethany nodded. "Pull it when I say so, okay?" She walked over and put her hands on the lever, watching me for a cue.

I went over to a screen and typed the new cloak into the chameleon circuit, which looked out of date. Hopefully it would work anyways.

"Mrs. Frankel, please take a seat," I said, gesturing to a chair in the area around the console. "It might get a little flashy in here."

"Flashy?" She asked.

"Flashy." I repeated, and then turned to Rose, who was looking curiously at me. "Can you press that button and hold it in until I say so?" I asked, and she nodded, pressing the button that I indicated.

"Okay, ready?" I said, and Bethany peeked around the other side of the console, which was beginning to rise steadily up and down.

"Ready!" She called. I looked to Rose.

"Ready." She said, holding her finger on the button.

I pressed the enter button and then nodded to Bethany, who pulled the lever. All of a sudden we were surrounded by flashing lights and a great rumbling noise, and parts of her TARDIS started to spark everywhere. Smoke started to leak from the chameleon circuit, and I knew that something was wrong with it.

Everything subsided as quickly as it began, and I coughed through the smoke and waved my hand in front of my face so that I could see.

"What's wrong?" Rose asked as the smoke cleared, and I looked down at the chameleon circuit. It was fried.

"I should've known that changing a chameleon cloak first was a bad idea!" I exclaimed, and sighed angrily. "Stupid!" I yelled.

"So now my ship is stuck, like yours?" Bethany asked, coming around from the other side of the console.

"Yeah." I said, looking at the still smoking circuit. "Let's just hope that it's not a playhouse anymore."

"I don't think that it is, Doctor." Mrs. Frankel said, rising from her seat, and I turned to look at her. "Look," She continued, "I can see the sunlight!"

I looked towards the door and saw that she was right; the bright sunlight was streaming in through a glass plated door.

"I think it worked!" Bethany said, and started to run to the door. Everyone followed her. She burst through the door, and turned around. She smiled, and I knew that the circuit change had taken effect.

I made it through the doors, and turned around to see a small red telephone booth. I was surprised to see that it was glass on three sides, though I couldn't see the main room of the TARDIS through the windows.

"That's incredible!" Rose said, turning to look at Bethany's TARDIS. "If it's possible, I think I'm more amazed at it than I am at your TARDIS, Doctor." She said.

"I believe you." I replied. Suddenly I heard a door slam, and we all turned to see a man walking towards us.

"Howard!" Mrs. Frankel called, and Bethany smiled. I figured it was her human father.

"Who's this, Susan?" He asked, looking at me and Rose, and then suddenly he turned to Bethany's TARDIS. "And when did we put a telephone booth back here?" He asked.

"We didn't, dear." Mrs. Frankel explained. "Bethany's blank spells were because she was searching for her home planet." She finished.

"So they know?" Howard asked, whispering to Susan.

"Yes," She said, smiling. "_They_ figured it out!" She exclaimed.


	5. Chapter 5

Bethany and I sat on the front porch of her house. Rose had already gone back to the TARDIS; she was ready to retire for the night.

Bethany's parents were discussing everything that had happened. Mrs. Frankel was explaining everything to her husband, and Bethany thought that it would be right to give them their privacy.

"So what do I do now?" Bethany asked, and I turned to look at her. She was looking off into the evening sky, her messy brown hair waving in the slight breeze.

"I don't know." I said honestly. "I've never really encountered a situation like this before."

Bethany picked up her box that was sitting beside her and pulled out her sonic screwdriver. "Why did they give me this?" She asked, looking closely at it.

"Family heirloom, most likely." I replied. "Didn't want it to get lost in the war. And besides," I said, leaning closer. "Any Time Lord needs one." I smiled at her, and she returned it kindly.

Suddenly the door to the house opened behind us, and Bethany's mother and father stepped out onto the porch. Both Bethany and I stood up, facing them.

Mr. and Mrs. Frankel took each other's hands. Mr. Frankel began to talk. "Bethany, we want you to go with the Doctor." He said.

"He's the only one who can teach you who you really are, and where you came from." Mrs. Frankel continued. "_If_ the Doctor wants to." She finished, and all eyes turned to look at me. I looked down at Bethany.

"You're one of two remaining Time Lords in the universe –the other being myself—"I said, and then took a deep breath. "I would be honored to teach you about your heritage, Bethany."

She smiled.

000000

Everyone stood in front of the two TARDIS's. I had managed to move Bethany's TARDIS next to mine the night before, it was a relief to know that the main controls still worked after so long. Since Bethany couldn't fly her TARDIS by herself yet, I was going to be towing her until she knew how.

"Is this goodbye?" Bethany asked me, referring to if she would ever see her parents again.

"No. Certainly not." I confirmed. "You'll see them again, trust me."

"Thank you." She said, looking ahead. "For everything."

"You're welcome." I replied, and then her parents came forward to say goodbye to her. I walked ahead into my TARDIS where Rose was waiting in the seat at the console.

"Have fun?" I asked while pressing some buttons that would link our two TARDIS's together so that we would be able to communicate.

"Not as much as you." Rose said, and I turned to look at her. She smiled a wide grin at me. I chuckled.

"You're right about that." I replied.

Suddenly Bethany appeared on the other side of the camera in her TARDIS. She smiled at me. "I'm ready." She said.

"Okay," I said. "Where to first?"

_**THE END**_

**A/N: Hi guys! I know that this story is a little short, especially knowing how I write, but like I said, it was a dream that inspired it, and this is where it ends. **

**But who knows? I might get an idea for it one day, and you might get another chapter! But for now, this story is over. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.**

**I hoped you enjoyed it!**


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